MCALLEN, Texas — The United States government has begun administering rapid coronavirus tests on all migrant families immediately after they are released from Border Patrol custody in South Texas but before they are turned over to a local shelter, the Washington Examiner has learned.
The Department of Homeland Security this week began administering its own tests on the families it is letting out of federal custody in the Rio Grande Valley. That follows more than a month in which the city of McAllen was forced to share its own testing supply so that local charitable organizations could test those it was admitting into shelters and holding centers, according to the leader of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley.
Catholic Charities originally set up a testing site a block and a half away in a parking lot on U.S. Business 83. DHS took over operations earlier this week following weeks of criticism from lawmakers that it was not testing the tens of thousands of people it was allowing to be released into the U.S. amid the pandemic, according to Sister Norma Pimentel, who oversees the migrant shelter in downtown McAllen.
“The federal government stepped up, and they took over,” said Pimentel.
The site is comprised of several tents and surrounded by a 6-foot fence to prevent media or the public from intruding. Rapid tests that produce results in 20 minutes are administered within the tents, and those who pass with a negative result are allowed to enter the nearby Catholic Charities humanitarian respite center. The negative tests give Pimentel “peace of mind” about administering hundreds of people every day.
A staff aide told the Washington Examiner during a tour on Wednesday that people who do test positive are housed in a separate area of the facility.
Customs and Border Protection, the federal agency that oversees the Border Patrol, would not confirm that it had commenced testing families this week but said it relies on both on-site contracted medical personnel and referrals to provide medical support to people, including those who have coronavirus symptoms. The statement did not address how the agency tests people.
Border Patrol Deputy Chief Raul Ortiz told reporters during a telephonic briefing in March that the agency had begun testing people it was releasing in Laredo, Texas, and that that initiative would soon be expanded to the Rio Grande Valley.
The South Texas region of the 2,000-mile southern border has seen more illegal crossings in 2021 than any other region. On some days, several thousand people are apprehended by Border Patrol agents. More than half are families and children without parents, while the remainder are single adults. The majority of families and children traveled to the U.S.-Mexico border from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. They surrender to agents after coming over the Rio Grande River.
